Francesco was the son of Leonello d'Este, ruler of Ferrara, but he received his education in the Netherlands at the court of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. The hammer and ring may be jousting prizes or symbols of power, and the unusual white background could refer to the Este family’s livery colors (white, red, and green).

Rogier van der Weyden was one of the most influential painters of the fifteenth century. The elegant, stylized lines of the sitter’s face and hands are among the qualities that established Rogier’s supremacy as a court portraitist in the Netherlands.

Reverse:

The Este family coat of arms and crest on the reverse of the panel emphasize the heraldic quality of the portrait. The inscription, "v[ot]re tout…francisque" (entirely yours, Francesco), forms a dedication to the portrait’s recipient, perhaps a friend or member of Philip the Good’s court. The "m" and "e," stand for "marchio estensis," the title extended to Francesco. The enigmatic scratched inscription in the upper left, "non plus / courcelles," may refer to the village in Burgundy where Francesco died.

As established in a fundamental article by Kantorowicz (1939–40), the sitter of this supremely aristocratic portrait is the natural son of Leonello d'Este. As was the custom at court, Francesco was sent abroad for his military training and in 1444 arrived in Liège; he joined the court of Philip the Good (1396–1467) and then that of his son and successor Charles the Bold (1433–1477), who he had first served as steward of the household. We have notices of Francesco's participation in battles and jousts, and on diplomatic missions that brought him back to Italy on a number of occasions. In 1471 he ill-advisedly supported the claims of his half-brother Niccolò to the duchy and was exiled by his uncle, Duke Ercole d'Este. The last notice of him is in 1475, when he was Captain of Westerloo at Lille.

It was probably around 1460, in Brussels, that Francesco sat to Rogier, who had been appointed official town painter in 1436. About the same time he painted portraits of both Philip the Good and Charles the Bold. Francesco's fashionably Burgundian black, fur-lined doublet reveals a red high collar and a gold chain. Unusually, Rogier shows him against a white rather than dark background, which greatly enhances the heraldic effect of the portrait (white, red, and green were the livery colors of the Este). The tendril-like fingers of the sitter's hands form an elegant pattern at lower left. One is placed on the edge of the picture field, while with the other Francesco holds a steel-headed hammer and a gold ring with a ruby. These objects may be attributes of his rank at court—Philip the Good holds a similar hammer in a miniature by Rogier showing the duke ceremoniously receiving a manuscript of the Chroniques du Hainault—or they may relate to a tournament. We know that such hammers were used to inspect the shields, crested helmets, and pennons of contestants; to knock out disqualified shields; and to referee the contest once the fighting began, while gold rings were sometimes awarded to the victor (Armstrong 1977). The heraldic quality of the portrait is underscored by the coat of arms on the reverse (see Additional Images), probably painted by an assistant. The motto—v[ot]re tout, or "entirely yours" (signifying, one imagines, Francesco's allegiance to the duke)—is accompanied by the entwined letters m and e, for "marchio estensis", the title of his father that was extended to Francesco at the Burgundian court. Francesco's name appears in French at the bottom of the panel. The enigmatic scratched inscription in the upper left, non plus / courcelles, has been variously explained, perhaps most compellingly as a hamlet or town in Burgundian territory where Francesco met his end (Nickel 1987).

The portrait of Francesco has much in common with Rogier's portrait of Philip the Good's natural son, Antoine, known as le Grand Bâtard (Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels), who is also shown holding an insignia associated with tournaments: an arrow (flung into the tilt-yard at the beginning and end of a tilt). But the portrait of Francesco is by far Rogier's most stylized court portrait, exhibiting precisely those qualities that established Rogier's supremacy as court portraitist in the Netherlands. And not merely in the Netherlands: Rogier enjoyed an enormous reputation in Italian court circles. Leonello d'Este commissioned works from him through a Lucchese merchant in Bruges, Paolo Poggi, while in 1460 Francesco Sforza sent a local artist, Zanetto Bugatto, to study with Rogier. When his brother, Alessandro Sforza, the lord of Pesaro, went to the Netherlands in 1458, he sat to Rogier and also acquired a portrait of Philip the Good. So regardless of whether Italian princes and artists studied Rogier's portrait of Francesco d'Este—for example, at the church congress in Mantua in 1459–60, which Francesco attended as part of the Burgundian embassy and at which time he visited Ferrara—there is no question that they were well acquainted with the artist's courtly manner, in which the alchemy of his imagination transforms observed data into refined object possessing "an ascetic gravity and an uncompromising stylistic purity" (Max J. Friedlaender, Early Netherlandish Painting: From Van Eyck to Bruegel, London, 1956 [ed. 1965], p. 23). It is indicative of Rogier's sense of appropriateness that Francesco's features are shared by those of the young magus in the Columba Altarpiece (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).

private collection or art market, Modena (until 1800; sold to Northwick); John Rushout, 2nd Lord Northwick, Harrow Park, Harrow-on-the-Hill (1800–23; his sale, Denew, Harrow Park, September 24, 1823, no. 16, "A very ancient small Portrait on panel, on the reverse side are the Arms of France quartered with the Eagle of the Family of Este, purchased at Modena in 1800," for 12 s.); J. Taylor (until 1828; his sale, June 23–28, 1828, Phillips, London, same description as in Northwick sale cat., 11 1/4 x 8 in., for £ 4.16, to Messman); Daniel Mesman (from 1828); Sir Audley Neeld, Grittleton House, Wiltshire (until 1909; as "Portrait of Leonello d'Este," sold to Douglas); [R. Langton Douglas, London, 1909]; [Colnaghi, London, 1910; sold to Speyer]; Sir Edgar Speyer, London and New York (1911–16; sold to Kleinberger); [Kleinberger, New York, 1916–18; sold for $80,000 to Friedsam]; Michael Friedsam, New York (1918–d. 1931)

Roger Fry. "A Portrait of Leonello d'Este by Roger van der Weyden." Burlington Magazine 18 (January 1911), pp. 200–202, ill. p. 198 (in color) and p. 203 (reverse), publishes this painting as a portrait of Leonello d'Este (1407–1450), painted by Rogier van der Weyden in Ferrara, where he stopped en route to Rome for the Jubilee celebrations of 1450; states that in 1450 Rogier received payment in the Netherlands for certain paintings he made for Leonello's study at Belfiore and suggests that this portrait could be among these works; describes the Este arms, the impresa of Leonello, and the inscriptions on the reverse; notes that the impresa of the hooded lynx is explained elsewhere on a medal by the motto "Quae vides, ne vide" ("Do not see what you see"); reads two words inscribed on the reverse as "possibly intended for 'Voir Tout'" and notes that the words "Non plus Courcelles" were scratched in at a later date; comments that the use of a white background for such a portrait is unusual.

A. Van de Put. "Additional Note on the Coat of Arms of Leonello d'Este." Burlington Magazine 18 (January 1911), pp. 235–36, describes the coat of arms on the shield, the lynx with bandaged eyes (the device of Leonello), and the inscription "m[archio] e[stensis]" as references to Leonello; suggests that "francisque" refers to Francesco d'Este, who may have owned the portrait, and considers the French motto a later addition.

[Adolfo Venturi]. "Bollettino Bibliografico: Fry (Roger). A Portrait of Leonello d'Este by Roger Van der Weyden . . ." L'arte 14 (1911), pp. 398–99, questions the identification of the portrait as Leonello d'Este, comparing it with other known likenesses of him, including Pisanello's portrait in Bergamo [now Accademia Carrara], and one by Orioli in the National Gallery, London; finds it unlikely that Lionello would be represented with a small hammer as a device; believes the abbreviation on the reverse, "M. E.," would need to be preceded by "L." in order to firmly identify the sitter as Leonello.

Wilhelm Stein. "Die Bildnisse von Roger van der Weyden." Jahrbuch der Preuszischen Kunstsammlungen 47 (1926), pp. 30–31, suggests this portrait was painted by Zanetto Bugatto, who worked in Rogier's shop between 1461 and 1463, and that it was commissioned either by Francesco d'Este or Francesco Sforza; describes the hammer as a metalworking tool and mentions a manuscript illumination [Brussels 9242] in which Philip the Good holds a similar attribute.

Tancred Borenius inCatalogue of the Loan Exhibition of Flemish & Belgian Art: A Memorial Volume. Ed. Martin Conway. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1927, pp. 13–14, as painted by Rogier in Italy in 1449–50, but quotes Hulin de Loo's opinion ("H. L.") that it was painted after his return to Brussels from a drawing.

Max J. Friedländer in The Michael Friedsam Collection. [completed 1928], p. 123a, believes the portrait, or at least the drawing for it, dates "towards 1450" when Rogier was in Ferrara.

G. Agnelli. Letter to Margaretta Salinger. October 3, 1932, notes that a figure by Francesco del Cossa in Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara, displays the same attributes [hammer and ring] and questions the identification of the subject as Leonello d'Este.

A. Van de Put. Letter to Margaretta Salinger. June 1, 1935, notes that the identification of the sitter as Meliaduse first proposed in the Ferrara catalogue (Ref. 1933) is based in part on the belief that the hammer was one of a very few that were included in the ceremony to open the Holy Door during the Jubilee; adds that this catalogue offers no evidence that Meliaduse attended the Jubilee; the emblem "M E," he believes, could just as easily stand for "Marchio Estenses" (which we know was used by Leonello d'Este) as for Meliaduse d'Este.

Adolfo Venturi. Letter to Margaretta Salinger. September 20, 1935, reaffirms his belief that the subject must be Meliaduse, pointing out that he was the first to question Fry's identification [see Ref. 1911]; further notes that the lynx device was favored by members of the family other than Leonello, for example Borso, and that it appears on the facade of the Palazzo Schifanoia; observes that Leonello "could well have been in Rome" for the Jubilee.

D. Roggen. "Lionello of Meliaduse d'Este." Gentsche bijdragen tot de kunstgeschiedenis 3 (1936), pp. 112–14, rejects the suggestion that the hammer can be identified with the hammer of the holy year, which the pope may have offered to Meliaduse; lists representations of Jean sans Peur and Philippe le Bel featuring the (unexplained) hammer as an attribute.

Ernst Kantorowicz. "The Este Portrait by Roger van der Weyden." Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 3 (1939–40), pp. 165–80, ill. (obverse and reverse), identifies the subject as Leonello's illegitimate son Francesco d'Este, who, contrary to contemporary genealogical sources was not born in 1444, but left Ferrara for the Netherlands in that year to be educated in Brussels at the Burgundian court; suggests Francesco would have been at least 15 years old at the time, thus born in or about 1429, and notes that he is last mentioned in 1475; publishes a medallion representing Francesco in profile (pl. 32b, Ms. Vittorio Emmanuele Library, Rome, 293) and comments on similarities to the sitter in this portrait, which he dates about 1460, as Francesco appears to be about thirty years old; states that "the hammer with the long and slender helve was the attribute of certain, probably mlitary or knightly, dignitaries, for only princes and personalities of high rank are represented with these insignia," and that as Francesco was Captain and Governor of Westerloo and Le Quesnoy, he may have held a position entitling him to carry the hammer; also suggests the possibility that the hammer and ring with a ruby may instead allude to a tournament victory as both figure in tournament chronicles; notes that Memling's "Man with an Arrow" (National Gallery of Art, Washington) may represent Francesco at about the age of forty.

Harry B. Wehle and Margaretta Salinger. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch and German Paintings. New York, 1947, pp. 35–38, ill., identify the sitter as Francesco d'Este and suggest the portrait was painted in Brussels in 1460.

Eberhard Ruhmer. Tura: Paintings and Drawings. New York, 1958, pp. 13, 17, 55 n. 44, observes that in about 1460, just about the time of the creation of this portrait, traces of Netherlandish influence begin to appear in Tura's art.

R. H. Wilenski. Flemish Painters, 1430–1830. New York, 1960, vol. 1, pp. 26–28, 611; vol. 2, pl. 50, as a member of the Este family in the guise of Saint Eligius, painted by the "New York d'Este Painter".

Martin Davies. Rogier van der Weyden: An Essay, with a Critical Catalogue of Paintings Assigned to Him and to Robert Campin. London, 1972, pp. 25, 229, 244, pls. 111–12 (obverse and reverse), as Francesco, a late work, apparently painted in Flanders; questions Beenken's [Ref. 1951] suggestion that there may be intervention by Zanetto Bugatto; comments on the unusual light background, but refers the reader to Campin's supposed portrait of Robert de Masmines in Berlin [Berlin-Dahlem Museum, which also has a light background].

Josua Bruyn. "The Literature of Art: A New Monograph on Rogier [Review of Martin Davies, Rogier van der Weyden . . ., 1972]." Burlington Magazine 116 (September 1974), p. 541, comments that "whether or not an attribution of the portrait . . . to Zanetto Bugatto makes sense, Rogier's authorship is not quite as obvious as is suggested".

Margaretta Salinger in "The Price Was Not Too High." The Chase, the Capture: Collecting at the Metropolitan. New York, 1975, pp. 195–96, describes the excitement of discovering beneath dark pigment the raised outline of a finger ring, since made visible [during cleaning in 1934].

L. A. J. Armstrong in A. G. Dickens. The Courts of Europe: Politics, Patronage and Royalty 1400–1800. London, 1977, pp. 72, 74, ill., notes that before tournaments, the presiding duke or champion "inspected the shields, crested helmets, and pennons" of the contestants and used a hammer to "knock out disqualified shields . . . and to referee the contest once the fighting had begun"; adds that the hammer was a princely attribute and that this is the reason that Francesco d'Este had "Roger paint him with a toy hammer as a symbol of power".

John [Rigby] Hale. Letter to Sir John Pope-Hennessy. January 3, 1980, states that the hammer is not a war hammer, but a "carpenter's claw-hammer"; observes that "this could relate it to the drawing of nails from the cross" and that together with the "drop-of-blood ruby" in the ring, Francesco could be holding an emblem of a devotion to the Passion.

Lorne Campbell. Unpublished notes. 1981, comments that all of Rogier's sitters have similar expressions of noble piety, and that their heads have a linear interest which they may never have posessed in nature.

James Snyder. Northern Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, the Graphic Arts from 1350 to 1575. New York, 1985, pp. 137–38, ill., describes it as a generalized characterization emphasizing the sitter's aristocratic status; dates it about 1455–60.

Guy Bauman. "Early Flemish Portraits, 1425–1525." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 43 (Spring 1986), pp. 38–39, 41–42, ill. in color on front cover and on p. 39 (obverse); ill. in color on back cover and on p. 28 (reverse), dates it about 1460 and calls the hammer a "princely attribute of power connected with the rituals of the tournament" and the ring "possibly a prize".

Introduction by James Snyder inThe Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Renaissance in the North. New York, 1987, pp. 10, 25, ill. (color).

Helmut Nickel. "A Heraldic Note about the Portrait of Ladislaus, Count of Haag, by Hans Mielich." Metropolitan Museum Journal 22 (1987), pp. 144–47, ill. (obverse and reverse), discusses the iconography of the Este family and reads the upper inscription as "votre tout," noting that the abbreviation "vre" for "votre" is a common one; suggests that "non plus courcelles" could refer to the town of Corcelles where the sitter may have died in battle.

Lorne Campbell. Renaissance Portraits. New Haven, 1990, pp. 16, 37, 61, 72, 96, 128–29, 257 n. 31, pl. 154 (obverse), notes that a similar hammer is held by Philip the Good in the presentation miniature of the "Chroniques du Hainaut".

Angelica Dülberg. Privatporträts: Geschichte und Ikonologie einer Gattung im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1990, pp. 113, 176, figs. 356–57, ill. (obverse and reverse), believes the inscription "voir" read by Kantorowicz (see Ref. 1939–40) must correspond with the letters "m" and "e," and that with the word "tout" the whole is more likely to represent a single device than the title "Marquis d'Este" and the device "voir tout".

Alfons Lieven Dierick, Hélène Verougstraete-Marcq, and Roger van Schoute. "La lecture des textes." Le dessin sous-jacent dans la peinture. Colloque 8, Louvain, 1991, pp. 182–83, pl. 103b (detail of reverse), states that the "VRE" inscribed on the reverse is a standard written form for "VOSTRE," and that the text, which is not a device but a dedication, can be read as "Vostre tout francisque" or "entirely yours Francesco".

Andrea Bacchi. Francesco del Cossa. Soncino, 1991, p. 44, mentions it in relation to Cossa's portrait of an unidentified man holding a ring [Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid], which may similarly be identifiable as a prize.

Nicholas H. J. Hall, ed. Colnaghi in America: A Survey to Commemorate the First Decade of Colnaghi New York. New York, 1992, pp. 25, 131, ill.

Shirley Neilsen Blum, Selected by Guy C. Bauman, and Walter A. Liedtke inFlemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America. Antwerp, 1992, pp. 24, 40–42, no. 4, ill. in color (obverse and reverse), compares it to Leonardo da Vinci's portrait of Ginevra da Binci [National Gallery, Washington], also painted on its reverse, in which, similarly, "a noble lineage mixes with an unmistakably grave, almost melancholic humor".

Otto Pächt. Early Netherlandish Painting from Rogier van der Weyden to Gerard David. Ed. Monika Rosenauer. London, 1997, pp. 71–72, ill., comments on the "homogeneity of line" in the face and hands of this portrait, "the same springing, flexible curves, whether in the aquiline nose or the crooked little finger".

Michael Kimmelman. "At the Met with Chuck Close: Sought or Imposed, Limits Can Take Flight." New York Times (July 25, 1997), C section, ill., comments on "the incredible cluster of shapes in the lower left-hand corner, like an octopus, of fingers".

Dirk De Vos. Rogier van der Weyden: The Complete Works. New York, 1999, pp. 112, 302–4, ill. (color, obverse and reverse), dates it about 1455–60 and observes that if we understand the inscription "vre tout" to be a dedication, that is, "vostre tout," we must conclude that the portrait was conceived as a gift to Francesco's father, Leonello, who died in 1450; notes, however, that Francesco's hair is not cut around the ear, which was "compulsary" at the Burgundian court about 1450, and that the style of the portrait is too mannered for the 1440s; finds the quality of this picture "clearly inferior" to Rogier's other portraits, although "the lack of plasticity and definition in the features could be the result of relatively heavy wear"; considers the painting on the reverse "plainly by a different artist," and comments on the mediocre quality of the helmet.

Albert Châtelet. Rogier van der Weyden: Problèmes de la vie et de l'oeuvre. Strasbourg, 1999, pp. 201–2, reads the inscription as "V[ost]RE TOUT," to be read with "Francisque," and thus a dedication to a second party.

Oliver Bradbury and Nicholas Penny. "The Picture Collecting of Lord Northwick: Part I." Burlington Magazine 144 (August 2002), p. 491, mention as an example of Lord Northwick's early interest in fifteenth-century painting "A very ancient small portrait on panel, on the reverse are the Arms of France, quartered with the Eagle of the Este family . . ." [presumably the present portrait].

Lorne Campbell. "Letters: Lord Northwick's Collection and Rogier van der Weyden's Portrait of Francesco d'Este." Burlington Magazine 144 (November 2002), p. 696, ill. (reverse), notes that our portrait corresponds in description to the work mentioned in Lord Northwick's 1823 sale at Harrow Villa, no. 16, mentioned in Ref. Bradbury and Penny 2002; concludes that if the Northwick picture is not identical with the New York portrait of Francesco d'Este, it must have been a portrait of Niccolo d'Este, his son Leonello d'Este or one of their immediate family, since it was Niccolo who in 1432 received from Charles VII of France the privilege of quartering the arms of France; observes that Leonello's successors, Borso d'Este in 1452 and Ercole d'Este in 1474 added more quarterings.